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Zia N, Stroscio M, Dutta M. Stimulation of Biological Structures on the Nanoscale Using Interfaces with Large Built-In Spontaneous Polarizations. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 17:2332. [PMID: 38793399 PMCID: PMC11123190 DOI: 10.3390/ma17102332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
The electric potential stimulation of biological structures in aqueous environments is well-known to be a result of the gating of voltage-gated ion channels. Such voltage-gated ion channels are ubiquitous in the membranes of a wide variety of cells and they play central roles in a wide variety of sensing mechanisms and neuronal functions in biological systems. Experimental studies of ion-channel gating are frequently conducted using path-clamp techniques by placing a cumbersome external electrode in the vicinity of the extracellular side of the ion channel. Recently, it has been demonstrated that laser-induced polarization of nanoscale quantum dots can produce voltage sufficient to gate voltage-gated ion channels. This study specifically focuses on a new method of gating voltage-gated ion channels using 2D structures made of materials exhibiting large naturally occurring spontaneous polarizations, thereby eliminating the need for an external electrode or an illuminating laser. The work presents the use of self-polarizing semiconductor flakes, namely, 2H-SiC, ZnO, and GaN, to produce electric potential that is sufficient to gate voltage-gated ion channels when existing in proximity to it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nida Zia
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;
| | - Michael Stroscio
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Physics Department and Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Mitra Dutta
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Physics Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;
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Zia N, Stroscio MA, Dutta M. The Use of Semiconductor Quantum Dots with Large, Built-In Spontaneous Polarizations for the Electric Potential Stimulation of Biological Structures on the Nanoscale. NANOMATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 13:3143. [PMID: 38133042 PMCID: PMC10745412 DOI: 10.3390/nano13243143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
The feasibility of using quantum dots fabricated from materials with built-in spontaneous polarizations for the electric potential stimulation of biological structures in aqueous environments is evaluated by modeling the electric potential produced in the vicinity of such quantum dots. By modeling the external potential created by the spherical nanoscale region of a material with spontaneous polarization, and by considering Debye screening in the vicinity of the quantum dot, it is found that electric potential around these nanostructures is sufficient to cause physiological effects in selected biological systems. These findings suggest that quantum dots may be used in lieu of quantum dots with polarizations produced using an external laser to cause physiological effects. The elimination of the external laser represents a significant benefit of using quantum dots with permanent, built-in spontaneous polarization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nida Zia
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;
| | - Michael A. Stroscio
- Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Mitra Dutta
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;
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Colnot E, Cardoit L, Cabirol MJ, Roudier L, Delville MH, Fayoux A, Thoby-Brisson M, Juvin L, Morin D. Chronic maternal exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles alters breathing in newborn offspring. Part Fibre Toxicol 2022; 19:57. [PMID: 35982496 PMCID: PMC9386967 DOI: 10.1186/s12989-022-00497-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Over the last two decades, nanotechnologies and the use of nanoparticles represent one of the greatest technological advances in many fields of human activity. Particles of titanium dioxide (TiO2) are one of the nanomaterials most frequently found in everyday consumer products. But, due in particular to their extremely small size, TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) are prone to cross biological barriers and potentially lead to adverse health effects. The presence of TiO2 NPs found in human placentae and in the infant meconium has indicated unequivocally the capacity for a materno-fetal transfer of this nanomaterial. Although chronic exposure to TiO2 NPs during pregnancy is known to induce offspring cognitive deficits associated with neurotoxicity, the impact of a gestational exposure on a vital motor function such as respiration, whose functional emergence occurs during fetal development, remains unknown. Results Using in vivo whole-body plethysmographic recordings from neonatal mice, we show that a chronic exposure to TiO2 NPs during pregnancy alters the respiratory activity of offspring, characterized by an abnormally elevated rate of breathing. Correspondingly, using ex vivo electrophysiological recordings performed on isolated brainstem-spinal cord preparations of newborn mice and medullary slice preparations containing specific nuclei controlling breathing frequency, we show that the spontaneously generated respiratory-related rhythm is significantly and abnormally accelerated in animals prenatally exposed to TiO2 NPs. Moreover, such a chronic prenatal exposure was found to impair the capacity of respiratory neural circuitry to effectively adjust breathing rates in response to excitatory environmental stimuli such as an increase in ambient temperature. Conclusions Our findings thus demonstrate that a maternal exposure to TiO2 NPs during pregnancy affects the normal development and operation of the respiratory centers in progeny. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12989-022-00497-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eloïse Colnot
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Laura Cardoit
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | | | - Lydia Roudier
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, ICMCB, UMR 5026, F-33608, Pessac, France
| | | | - Anne Fayoux
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | | | - Laurent Juvin
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Didier Morin
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, F-33000, Bordeaux, France. .,Univ. Bordeaux, Department of Health, Safety and Environment, Bordeaux Institute of Technology, F-33175, Gradignan, France.
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Spontaneous Polarization Calculations in Wurtzite II-Oxides, III-Nitrides, and SiC Polytypes through Net Dipole Moments and the Effects of Nanoscale Layering. NANOMATERIALS 2021; 11:nano11081956. [PMID: 34443788 PMCID: PMC8398490 DOI: 10.3390/nano11081956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Herein, the spontaneous polarization in crystals with hexagonal symmetry are calculated as a function of the number of monolayers composing a nanostructure by adding the dipole moments for consecutive units of the nanostructure. It is shown that in the limit of a large numbers of monolayers that the spontaneous polarization saturates to the expected bulk value of the spontaneous polarization. These results are relevant to understanding the role of the built-in spontaneous polarizations in a variety of nanostructures since these built-in polarizations are generally quite large, on the order of 1 × 108 to 1 × 1010 V/m. Using these formulations, we come to the prediction that small nanolayered structures are theoretically capable of having larger spontaneous polarizations than their bulk counterparts due to how the dipole moments of the anions and cations within a wurtzite lattice cancel out with one another more in larger structures.
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Lee JW, Kang H, Nam Y. Thermo-plasmonic gold nanofilms for simple and mass-producible photothermal neural interfaces. NANOSCALE 2018; 10:9226-9235. [PMID: 29726569 DOI: 10.1039/c8nr01697f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, photothermal stimulation methods using plasmonic metal nanoparticles have emerged as non-genetic optical techniques in neuromodulation. Although nanoparticle-based photothermal stimulation shows great potential in the excitation and the inhibition of neural activity, the complex synthesis processes of the nanoparticles and the lack of large-area deposition methods can be limiting factors for the development of photothermal neural devices. In this paper, we propose a plasmonic gold nanofilm, fabricated by a standard thermal evaporation process, as a simple and mass-producible photothermal neural interface layer for microelectrode array (MEA) chips. The absorption of the gold nanofilm at near infrared wavelengths is optimized to maximize the photothermal effect by varying the thickness and microstructure of the gold nanofilm. With the optimized conditions, a significantly strong photothermal effect is applied on MEAs without affecting the neural signal recording capability. Finally, primary rat hippocampal neuronal cultures are used to show that the photothermal neural inhibition using the gold nanofilm is as effective as that using the plasmonic nanoparticles. Due to the greater simplicity and versatility of the fabrication process, the plasmonic gold nanofilm can provide a promising solution for the mass production of photothermal platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jee Woong Lee
- Department Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
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